Dead Drop (20 page)

Demon:
Any one of a number of shape-shifting magical beings whose chief characteristic is, as far as the magekind are concerned, the ability to possess and control a human. They are psychically bound beings. They typically possess multiple physical forms, at least one of which is recognizably human. Before relations with the magekind exploded into war, they frequently bonded with the magekind. Demons can procreate with humans, but the demon must be in his or her true form.

Entelechy:
Demons not born from a human parent. Most are thousands of years old and extremely powerful.

Fealty:
Magically binding oath between a warlord and another demon, one of the magekind, or a human. Mutually protective. For the one swearing fealty, a broken oath results in severe harm or even death. A warlord who behaves capriciously with his sworn kin risks severing the bond. A warlord gains power through these oaths. A warlord can swear fealty to another warlord.

Fiend:
Subspecies of demon.

Hotblood:
An epithet the magekind use to refer to demons.

Kin:
What demons collectively call each other. Socially divided into various factions seeking power over other warlord-led factions.

Mage:
Human man who possesses magic. A sorcerer. See also magekind.

Magekind:
Humans who possess magic. The magekind arose to protect vanilla humans from the depredations of demons, a very real threat.

Mageheld:
Demon under the complete control of one of the magekind. A slave.

Severing:
The act of removing a mageheld from the control of a mage or witch, through the use of magic.

Talisman:
A usually small object holding the life force of a demon. The kin sometimes create talismans by consent if another demon is no longer able to take physical form. The magekind have learned to create talismans through ritual murder. A talisman confers additional magical power on the mage who has it. Sometimes requires an additional sacrifice. See also cracking (a talisman).

Vanilla:
A human with no magic or, pejoratively, one of the magekind with little power.

Warlord:
A demon who leads some number of other demons, who have sworn fealty. Usually a natural leader possessing far more magic than others of the Kin. Magekind and vanilla humans can swear fealty to a warlord.

Witch:
A human woman who possesses magic. A sorceress. See also magekind.

Alas, I am not perfect. From time to time I make mistakes. The great thing about eBooks is I can upload fixes pretty quickly. If you find a typo, by all means let me know!

Here's a list of updates so far:

• 2014.12.06 Version 1.0:
  

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